Birkenhead Radio Sailing & Power Club
Sailing with the DF65 restarted today (Wednesday 10/9/25).
There was still algae present in the water, but it did not affect the sailing and so the DF65 Open on Saturday will go ahead as planned, especially as rain is forecast for each day leading up to the weekend and it is not expected that the algae will return.
Report for today will be published shortly.
Due to the continued high levels of algae in the lake and a lack of any rain recently, the Club Committee have taken the unfortunate decision to temporaily suspend racing until the beginning of September.
This therefore encompasses the DF65/95 Social racing on Wednesday 27th and DF/RG65 Summer Series #7 on Saturday 30th August.
We will continue to regularly monitor the lake water quality, so that we can restart at the earliest opportunity. However, any improvement will all depend on what rainfall we might get and corresponding sunlight levels over the next few weeks to reduce the algae concentration.
Five RG65’s turned out for Round 6 of the Summer Series, with two brave souls carrying on from the DF95 Social Racing in the morning. Conditions were not dissimilar to the morning session and the forecsat Westerly breeze never materialised in either strength or direction. Combined with the ever present algae it was a tricky afternoon trying to cope with the shifting wind and significant impact of the algae. Three sported Swing Rigs and two in full size conventional, with not a lot to choose between them in performance terms.
Garry Benson from Fleetwood joined us as a visitor to try out his Ivy recently purchased from John Brierley and wanted to see how it went sailing with a few other RG’s.
Our initial course was a single beat and run over the whole length of the lake, but as the race took so long, from race two onwards our RO of the day Neil Westbrook shortened it down to two laps using the finish mark halfway up the lake.
Garry Benson took the lions share of wins with five from the eight races. Peter managed a win in race two and Alan Watkinson took the win in Race 4, with Dave Williams picking up the win in the final Race after Garry suffered a rudder servo failure towards the end of the race. Many of the races were very close and finishes could go to anyone in the fleet, with the fickle wind suddenly bringing a back marker up to the front on a run whilst the leaders sat stationary close to the line.
Charles had a great day with four 2nds, narrowly missing out on a win in one race and ended up only one point behind Peter at the end and place a very satisfying third overall. Alan was unable to build on his win in Race 4 and even though he asissted Garry to the shore in Race 8, still picked up a third place as Peter had an intermittent electrical problem and so sat out Race 8.
After eight races the fleet had suffered enough and so called it a day earlier than usual. Thanks go to Neil for acting as RO for the afternoon and to Dave williams for the few photos.
Seven DF95 skippers turned up for the second extra Saturday morning social racing sessions that had been added to the sailing calendar and it would be fair to say, that most if not all, probably wished they’d found something else to do with their time. The forecast was for a stiff breeze from the SW moving to the West with boats on B rigs. Martin Wittingham-Jones even came ready to sail with his B rig with 10 minutes to the start, only to have to quickly swap up to A rig just in time to race in what was a very shifting lightish breeze coming from over the houses. This combined with the ever present algae, made it a challenge for all.
Races one and two saw Paul Plested and Peter Baldwin pull away from the pack early on, and both took the option of de-weeding on the run/reach from the the starboard rounded windward mark and spreader mark. Paul managed to hang on for two firsts, with Peter close behind in 2nd. Steve Miller, who had a good day, managed a 3rd in the first race and a 4th in the second.
As with earlier races, both Paul and Peter got away with Paul taking the win. Steve Miller bagged another 3rd just pipping Alan to the line. In race five both Phyl Fanning, who had finally got his boat going in the conditions, and Martin, who suffered with electrical problems all morning, had a good first beat and were both in contention as they approached the leeward mark, with Peter just ahead and Paul just behind. Peter took the win and Paul managed to get through to 2nd, with Martin taking 3rd.
A good turnout of eleven skippers, including two newcomers with Noah Macintosh (first time out with his 65) and a prospective new member, Duncan Neale, joining in the racing. The breeze, for most of the morning was Westerly with swings to the NW at times, which combined with the persistent algae growth, made for interesting sailing. Paul Plested donned the waders (where’s Peter Baldwin when you need him?) and set the start line. Robbie Macintosh offered to be RO, which enabled all to race the standard windward/leeward one lap course.
For the early races a quick tack on to port after the start for a long drag race up the lake was the way to go. After two races, to make the beat less one sided, the course was switched to a starboard rounding of the windward and spreader mark. Mike De St Paer seemed to have the conditions and start sorted, and managed to cross the finish line 1st in three of these races. Clive Warren also got going quickly with a 2nd and a 1st early on. Paul Plested, despite being in the lead at times, didn’t manage to cross the line first until later on in the day, but was in the top three in all of the first four races. Duncan, who is new to the sport, showed his potential, with a 3rd and a 4th. Alan Watkinson was also in the mix with a 2nd and a 3rd at this point.
Given the conditions, and despite the presence of algae being frustrating at times, it was, overall, an enjoyable morning of racing. Well done to Mike with an impressive run of results and thanks to Robbie for running the show and providing the photos.
There is an Album of all photos and a short video available here
Seven skippers stayed on from the mornings sailing to take part in the DF95 racing including potential new member Duncan Neale and Noah McIntosh, along with 95 sailors Steve Miller and Martin Wittingham Jones, there was a healthy fleet of nine boats on the start line.
The wind was similar to the morning, perhaps not quite as strong but just as shifty with various holes and large shifts along the length of the lake as the direction generally south westerly swinging to the north at times as it passed through the houses. A standard course was set similar to the morning, with the odd tweak during racing to try to keep up with the shifts, a forlorn task for our RO Robbie Mac, who kept us in check on the start line on more than one occasion during the 8 races sailed.
From the get go, racing was tight throughout the fleet with 4 different winners and eight different skippers sharing the podium positions.
Race 1 – Clive was quickly out of the blocks chased all the way by Paul, Duncan and Guy. Race 2 – it was Phyll’s turn to eventually run out in top spot with Clive, Martin W.J and Paul chasing close behind.
Race 3 – and Paul, who had started well all day found a bit more speed out of his setup led the fleet across the finish line, but it was young Noah who was finding his feet (with a bit of rig tweaking and coaching by his father between races) who made the biggest leap up the field taking the second spot with Clive and Guy close behind. Race 4 – Noahs improvement continued and deservedly got his maiden victory which didn’t come easy with Alan, Clive and Paul in the mix right up to the finish line.
Races 5 and 6 – played out to similar conclusions with Paul finding consistency across the start line really pays off, and Noahs boat speed carrying them through to the first two spots with Clive, Guy, Martin and Duncan fighting it out for the last podium place
Races 7 and 8 – again followed a similar pattern to each other with Paul taking another pair of wins with the chasing pack of Duncan, Clive and Guy close behind
It was clear that Paul had won the afternoon with 6 wins but as for the minor places it was anyone’s guess, with the results table below courtesy of Paul.
Lovely sunshine and a decent mid to top end of ‘A’ rig wind straight down the middle from the top end of the lake.
With 7 skippers sailing 4 different designs it promised to be a good afternoons sailing and it was.
The first race was won by Graham sailing his BritPOP! but it was tight up the first beat with all the usual Birkenhead shifts to contend with, unfortunately Paul hadn’t listened carefully to what was the first windward mark was and this put him out of contention for this race.
Six races sailed before a break with some close races, Simon sailing his Alioth got a deserved 2nd in race 4, Alan in race 1 with a decent 2nd place and Ian banging in 4 3rd places but it was Peter and Graham out in front most of the time. Unfortunately we lost Paul at the break due to wiring problems on his battery connections.
The wind stayed pretty much the same for the remaining 6 races, Charles featured in a few of these races which was great to see, often picking out a great shift from both banks.
The water is still occupied by blotches of green algae that did effect boat speed in the lighter stuff, the art was to keep the momentum and stay away from the far bank.
It finished with race wins going to Peter with 2, should of been 3 and Graham with 10. Neil and David watched us all afternoon and weren’t afraid to recall any premature starters, thank you Dave and Neil. Photos courtesy of Dave and Paul.